• An emergency management group is a team responsible for the big picture in an emergency.
• An emergency operations group oversees the technical aspects of the response to an emergency.

Effective leadership can be the determining factor in whether an emergency response has a positive or negative outcome. Implementing a system for managing resources, analyzing information, and making decisions is the foundation necessary for enabling direction and situation control.

Emergency management group

The emergency management group is a team responsible for the big picture. It controls all incident-related activities including interfacing with the community, media, outside response organizations, and regulatory agencies.

This group generally consists of an affected area unit manager or supervisor, security coordinator, environmental coordinator, maintenance coordinator, human resources coordinator, planning and logistics coordinator, and public relations coordinator.

Other emergency management group members to consider would be senior managers who have the authority to:

• Determine the short-term and long-term effects of an emergency.
• Order the evacuation or shutdown of the facility.
• Interface with outside organizations and the media.
• Issue press releases.

Emergency operations group

The emergency operations group oversees the technical aspects of the response. It usually consists of the safety officer, operations officer, emergency medical technicians team, and fire/hazmat team.

At the core of this group is an Incident Command System, which provides a coordinated response and a clear chain of command to ensure safe operations. An incident commander could be any member of management with the authority to make decisions who is responsible for the following:

• Front-line management of an incident.
• Tactical planning and execution.
• Determining whether outside assistance is needed.
• Relaying requests for internal resource or outside assistance.

The incident commander must have the capability and authority to:

• Assume command.
• Assess the situation.
• Implement the emergency management and business continuity plan.
• Determine response strategies.
• Activate resources.
• Order an evacuation.
• Oversee all incident response activities.
• Declare that the incident is “over.”

Planning considerations

When developing a direction and control system, employers should:

• Define the duties of personnel with an assigned role. Establish procedures for each position. Prepare checklists for all procedures.
• Define procedures and responsibilities for firefighting, medical and health, and engineering.
• Determine lines of succession to ensure continuous leadership, authority, and responsibility in key positions.
• Determine equipment and supply needs for each response function.

At a minimum, employers should assign all personnel responsibility for:

• Recognizing and reporting an emergency.
• Warning other employees in the area.
• Taking security and safety measures.
• Evacuating safely.
• Providing training.

Facility shutdown

Facility shutdown is generally a last resort but always a possibility. Some facilities require only simple actions such as turning off equipment, locking doors, and activating alarms. Others require complex shutdown procedures. Employers should work with department heads to establish shutdown procedures. Such procedures should include information about when and how to shut off utilities. Employers must identify:

• The conditions that could necessitate a shutdown.
• Who can order a shutdown.
• Who will carry out shutdown procedures.
• How a partial shutdown would affect other facility operations.
• The length of time required for shutdown and restarting.

Emergency operations center

Every facility should designate an area where decision makers can gather during an emergency. The emergency operations center (EOC) serves as a centralized management center for emergency operations. Here, the emergency management group makes decisions based on information provided by the incident commander and other personnel. The EOC should be located in an area not likely to be involved in an incident. An alternate EOC should be designated in case the primary location is not usable.

Each facility must determine its requirements for an EOC based upon the functions to be performed and the number of people involved. Ideally, the EOC is a dedicated area equipped with communications equipment, reference materials, activity logs, and all the tools necessary to respond quickly and appropriately to an emergency.

Coordination of outside response

In some cases, the emergency requires the incident commander to turn operations over to an outside response organization. The facility’s incident commander provides the community’s incident commander a complete report on the situation, and keeps track of which organizations are on site and how the response is being coordinated. This helps increase personnel safety and accountability and prevents duplication of effort.

To accomplish this task, the incident commander may want to keep detailed logs of actions taken during an emergency—describe what happened, decisions made, and any deviations from policy. Also, the time should be logged for each event.